National coach, Djamel Belmadi, described Tuesday the friendly and official FIFA’s encounters against Mauritania (3 June/Blida 08.45 a.m.), Mali (6 June/Blida 08.45 a.m.) and Tunisia (11 June/Tunis) as important, considering these opponents “appropriate” for Algeria, describing these matches as an opportunity for the players to prove themselves.
“We will face three important matches against teams that have been carefully selected. They will allow us to prepare for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers,” Belmadi said at a press conference on the sidelines of the Algerian team’s training camp which began on Monday at Sidi Moussa National Technical Centre.
The national coach considered that Mauritania is a team “in constant progress”.
The second opponent, Mali, “is a big team,” said Belmadi, adding that “they are at least as strong or better than Burkina Faso, I respect them a lot.”
As for the Tunisian team, “semi-finalist of CAN-2019, participates at the world cup and 2nd in the African ranking, to play them is also to improve our FIFA ranking and be top 5 in view of a possible play-off for the World Cup”, said the national coach.
Djamal Belmadi also affirmed, on the sidelines of the press conference, that the captain of the national team and the star of Manchester City, Riyad Mahrez, is a high-class player, Riyad Mahrez doesn’t have to take the blame for his side’s Champions League defeat. Even if he is affected, but he has a big mental toughness, he will overcome this situation.
